Who wasn’t eager to embrace Edward Burns when he first burst on the movie scene with “The Brothers McMullen?”

The 1995 film announced Long Island’s answer to Woody Allen – except with better hair. But Burns has yet to match the magic of that indie charmer. His subsequent films attracted some pretty big names, but each movie he wrote and directed seemed inferior to his maiden effort.

Now he’s given us “Purple Violets,” which had the indignity, or the prescience, to debut exclusively on iTunes last year rather than hitting movie theaters. My Donne Tempo review shows the film didn’t deserve a direct-to-DVD fate, but it’s clearly not a return to the writer/director’s earliest form.

(Photo: Selma Blair and Patrick Wilson renew their courtship in the new DVD release “Purple Violets”)

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